Posted inTheater Review

The Gender Play‘s the thing

All of the world is a stage, and Will Wilhelm knows it. Their new production at About Face (cocreated and directed by Erin Murray), Gender Play, or what you Will, is the perfect platform for them to explore their gender journey while also expressing their more dramatic side via monologuing with a side of dissertation. […]

Posted inTheater Review

Mosque4Mosque upends stereotypes

Mosque4Mosque is not a monolithic representation of the Arab American Muslim experience, and perhaps that’s exactly the point.  Written by Omer Abbas Salem and directed by Sophiyaa Nayar, this charming production challenges all preconceived notions of a play about an Arab American Muslim family.  In this sitcom-esque dramedy, Ibrahim (played by Salem) and his family […]

Posted inAgenda

Umamicue, Mosque4Mosque, concerts, dancing, and more

Already hungry for some hearty fare? Join Monday Night Foodball this evening as the “barbecue supergroup” Umamicue brings A Very Umamicue Friendsgiving to the Kedzie Inn (4100 N. Kedzie). Expect an array of flavors including wasabi turkey confit croquettes (who doesn’t love a croquette?) with five-spice cranberry sauce, courtesy of the “Asian stoner food” duo […]

Posted inTheater Review

Southern spells

A good play, suggests Tony Kushner in his 1995 anthology Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue, “should be overstuffed.” Memorably comparing well-constructed theater to lasagna, he writes that a work of theater “should have barely been rescued from the mess it might just as easily have been” and, at its best, “has a bursting […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Collective healing

Queer bars are more than just bars that happen to be queer. They can be a refuge, a meeting place, and, quite literally, a safe space. They’re also places where our history has been written: from the Stonewall riots to the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Sam Mueller’s latest production unpacks what happens when the safety and […]